A little AT jaded

After doing huge miles in New Jersey and New York I started getting a little jaded with the trail after crossing into Connecticut and Massachusetts. I know some of it was due to being exhausted, and some of it because I hadn't really seen anyone familiar.  Yet, most of it is because step after step has been mostly the same lately with diminishing views because of heavy foliage... of course that is my perspective.

After crossing into Vermont the sentiments I was feeling got worse.  My second day in Vermont was nothing but dark forest, rock scrambles, and muddy trail.  As I was laying in my tent on the second night I could hear vehicles close by.  Knowing that I was 15 trail miles from a package drop in town, dreading more mud, and thinking the road those vehicles were on must connect to a paved road ... I decided to check google maps on my phone.  Sure enough, that mountain road connected to a road leading into Bennington VT.  The best part, it was a direct ten mile walk and didn't require a five mile hitch into town like the trail would.

I started off the next morning and quickly found the road.  Let me tell you, that road was rough.  It was rocky, uneven, and large portions of it had water flowing down it.  Eventually, I got to the main road.  While walking down the road into town I could see mountains, streams, and beautiful farm land everywhere.  I even walked by two turkeys running through a field (picture below).  It was then that I realized I wanted to bicycle some more because just simply walking down the country road brought a smile to my face.

After picking up my winter clothes in town and staying in the worst motel in the North East I moved across town to a nice little place close to the Walmart.  Unfortunately, this wally-world was small so my bike choices were limited.  It came down to a cheap hybrid road bike and a cheap mountain bike.  I decided on the mountain bike because of the added suspension and more upright posture (carrying my backpack).

The next morning around noon I set off.  Luckily, the hills I hit on the way to Manchester had equal downhills.  But, it didn't take long for anything in contact with the seat to start hurting.  Yet, the beautiful weather and awesome scenery made the discomfort worth it.  It also helps that I knocked out 20 miles in a few hours.  Quickly I reached Manchester (ski town).  I decided I had plenty of time to do another 30-40 miles if the terrain wasn't hilly so I kept on.  Unfortunately, right outside of town I had a huge uphill and to make things worse the chain came off the front sprocket (bike doesn't like the lowest gears).

After fixing the chain and making it to the top of the hill it wasn't long before I made it to Ludlow VT.  It helps that I hit a couple 50mph downhills.  I stayed in Ludlow for the night and set off again at 11am the next morning.  The whole day was amazing.  I got to ride along a river for miles.  I sat and ate with an older bicycling couple from Florida at a small dairy bar in Weathersfield.  And I got to ride through some nice farm land and small towns along highway 12A into New Hampshire.

I feel reenergized after my bicycle blaze.  I'm ready to tackle the Whites.  Furthermore, I don't feel so rushed after so many miles covered so quickly.  The next 400 miles as I'm told are the most beautiful and hardest parts of the trail.  I look forward to soaking up the best the AT has to offer.  And eventually summiting Katahdin with a bottle of Jack Daniels single barrel.

Best day with a worst day ending!

There I awoke on August 2, 2013 to the most lovely sound God could bless a man on a mountain trail.  Women's voices!  Not one, not two, but a whole flock!  Instead of sleeping another hour or two I sprung to my feet ready to strut this sexy beast of a mountain man before these Amazonian women.  As climbed outside my tent and rubbed the sleep out of my eyes I was hit by a tidal wave of defeat.  One of those amazonian voices I heard in the distance mentioned Harry Potter.  Then, another voice shot back with something about Hunger Games.  Finally, I was TKO'd by a Justin Bieber comment.

Teeneeboppers! Why God! Why!!!!!

Then I realized why he tricked me in such I vial way.  It was sunny, perfectly clear, and a cool 70 degrees.  The best hiking weather I've seen yet.  A blessing in disguise... oh the trickery!

I quickly packed my stuff up and hit the trail.  Within about four miles I hit Rattlesnake Mountain and had an awesome view of the valley below for about 100 miles (pic below).  I hung out there for about an hour enjoying the view, making phone calls, having second breakfast (ya we do that), and drying out my gear from the previous days land hurricane.  I finally got off my duff and walked about one-hundred yards and ran into a cool 20 year old couple.  They were picking blue berries to mix in with the pancakes they were making.  I sat and visited with them for a bit.  They were very inquisitive of the trail.  They wanted to know things like: What's it cost? How many miles per day? How much food? How heavy is my pack? And how do you get a cool name like Shake-N-Bake?  I gave them the knowledge they sought and wished them a good day.

I charged down the hill past a shelter, a south-bounder, a cool swamp (pic below), and a large snake.  In no time I made it to town.  The guide book didn't say anything about businesses being right off the trail but, I could see a few establishments that might have the object of my desire.  A Pepsi!  Sure enough, there was a fishing store towards the end that had a freezer full of stuff.  I grabbed a water, Gatorade, and my illustrious Pepsi like I was Gollum from Lord of the Rings.  Of course in this story the ring (Pepsi) was swallowed and consumed in a matter of seconds.  No trilogy, and no bloody fingers necessary.

As I headed back to the trail, trail magic número two happened.  An older gentleman named Snores offered me a ride, coke, and beer to the next shelter (2 miles ahead).  You should know by now that I'm no trail nazi... so I hopped in and a few minutes later was drinking some Budweiser, relaxing, and telling my story. After about an hour I packed up, thanked Snores, and hit the road again.

As luck would have it, at the very next shelter I ran into a men's only church retreat.  Down south we call them Mancations!  I got the impression that a lot of these guys had turned some really bad times into good by accepting Jesus into their lives.  One fellow in particular named John, chatted with me for about an hour.  We talked about the trail, the government, the bible, God, his church, and a lot of other things.  Then, they offered me and a south-bounder spaghetti.  Good conversation and good food ... well that's double trail magic in my book for total of four.

Eventually, I said good bye to the church group and was on my way. I had this idea in my head that I was going to hike all night.  However, I rolled my ankle three times (an omen in my book) and decided to call it a night when I reached a wooden platform (24 mile day) in High Point State Park that overlooks the tree canopy for miles.  I debated setting up my tent on this platform because the skies were clear, the stars were out, and it would be kind of tacky if someone came by in the morning.  I had never cowboy camped before but, this was the perfect night and a really great spot.  After star gazing for a bit I eventually fell asleep.

Then...

About 2 hours later I awoke to water droplets landing on my face.  It took me few seconds to realize what was going on, and then I noticed some dark shadows in the sky.  Too late! The heavens bursted open and the winds picked up something fierce.  I jumped to my feet and scrambled for my footprint, poles, and rain fly. I got the first two setup easy enough, but the guylines on my rain fly were all tangled.  Furthermore, the wind was blowing the rain fly and everything else around like crazy.  Eventually, I got the fly on and also managed to tie it down using a post, my backpack, and hiking pole.  Unfortunately, my sleeping bag, my mattress, my pillow, footprint, and me were soaked.  So what genius thing did I do next to fix that?...

Absolutely nothing! Ain't no dryers around here!  I climbed into my wet sleeping bag, and maybe got an hour of sleep as it poured with the wind thrashing my tent around into the morning.

Touché... Touché!

It's all about de shoes!

What's the most important item on the trail?  Shoes, shoes, and shoes.  Oh ya, did I say... SHOES!?!?

After a bajillionish miles on the trail I get a little twitch in my eye when I walk into shoe stores now and talk to the sales associates.  You hear all kinds of nonsense like stabilization, arch support, ankle support, pronation, etc.  Its nonsense because most of the people don't have a clue what they're talking about.  In fact, I've only talked to one guy at a store that knew what he was talking about and that was about 800 miles ago. He used to make orthotics for people.  Furthermore, he hit the nail on the head with regards to my foot problems. However, the solution was much simpler than both of us suspected.

I started out with Brooks Cascade shoes.  They worked great the first week and a half but then the balls of my feet started killing me.  Being the ignorant shoe person I was I thought, "Must be the lack of padding and all the rocks I've been stepping on."  So I did what any hiker would do... I got new shoes in Franklin, NC.

I picked up a pair of Vasques that had ankle support, Gortex (waterproofing), and a stiff sole.  They ran about 200 dollars if I remember right.  I remember telling the sales guy, "I need something with stiff soles because the rocks are killing the balls of my feet!"  I walked out of that store thinking my problems were solved.  Well it didn't take long for me to realize they weren't.  By the time I walked another 100 miles or more to the Nantahala Outdoor Center I was in pain once again.  This time my fellow hikers had convinced me to get some insoles called Super Feet.  I was told they were expensive but, they would surely fix my problem.

With a potential solution in mind I walked into the outfitter the next day.  This was my lucky day because the guy working the shoe section was a retired foot orthotics specialist.  I told him what I was looking for and he pulled out my shoe insoles to take a look.  After looking at the insoles that came with my Vasques he asked me if I was having ball of foot pain.  Surprised that he knew, I responded with an inquisitive, "Yes...".  He showed me that within a few days I had smashed that part of the insole to nothing.  He told me Super Feet would help but what I also needed was metatarsal pads. The pads are suppose to reposition the balls of your feet so that your toes do more work.  Unfortunately, they didn't sell metatarsal pads. However, I did find a Walgreens with something similar and he helped me rig them up with my duct tape (it was the best we could do).  Unfortunately, within hours of walking that duct tape came off and turned into a mess so I had to chunk the pads.  But, they did seem to be working.

I spent the next billion miles trying different insoles and placing my own pads but nothing seemed to work all that great.  No insoles offer pads because everyone's foot is different.  Furthermore, placing pads yourself is next to impossible because your own feet are different.  You pretty much need a specialist to help get it right.

It wasn't until I walked into a shoe store midway through my river float and saw a pair of 4-Finger Filas Barefoot shoes on clearance that I had an epiphany.  I thought I was just going to use them as camp shoes and/or strolling around but i began to notice that my toes were being engaged in my foot movement a lot more.  Curiously, I tried my Vasques for a few days and noticed that my toes did little work and that the balls of my feet did all the work.  Therefore, I hatched a plan.  I decided to wear the barefoot shoes through 20 miles of the rockiest part of the trail.

As my test began I started getting interesting results.  I thought because these shoes had so little padding that I was going to feel every rock.  I was wrong.  I noticed my foot curving to fit multiple rocks, fitting between gaps that my shoes couldn't, gripping to rocks that normal shoes can't, and allowing my toes to function properly.  After 20 miles my feet were tired but, they weren't sore and painful to walk on.  The irony of the barefoot shoes is that walking on concrete is painful after a while unless you're slightly jogging or running.

I eventually traded my Vasques and Filas for Nike Free's and Vibram 5-Fingers.  I chose the Free's because they were really flexible like the barefoot shoes and they had little heel support.  I didn't want heel support because I think it raises the heel up thereby putting more pressure on the ball of the foot.  The other plus with the Free's is they're light weight.  After wearing both shoes the last 30 miles I can honestly say my feet feel better than ever.

Here is my cliff notes on shoes:

1. They aren't a big deal unless you're standing all day, walking/running all day, an athlete, or supporting a specific task.

2. Shoes with a lot of heel support (which are almost all shoes) raise your heel up forcing pressure at the balls of your feet.

3. Shoes with stiff soles disengage your toes forcing you to push off with the balls of your feet.

4. Shoes with thick soles make rolling your ankle more likely uneven terrain.

5. Shoes with thick soles and ankle support lessen the risk of rolling your ankle but increase the risk of hurting your knees.

6. Waterproof shoes just make your feet sweat and become wet anyways.

Finally, I realized how ridiculous the situation was.  I buy shoes to protect my feet.  They almost all come with crappy insoles therefore I buy new insoles.  The shoes prevent my feet from working naturally (ball of foot pain) so I have to get pads to correct it.  Its a fix for a fix for a fix.  What else could be wrong?  Inner & outer knee pain because my stance is all jacked up?  Maybe lower back pain too? How would you know without going to a specialist?  Or you could buy into the shoe nonsense... "You need this one because it has great heel and arch support!"